Before the Horns - A Bob Velseb Story

Chapter 14

Charlie was getting impatient. She was getting tired of Bob's sociable self and was just ready for lunch to hopefully roll around. When there had been a lull in customers and she may have gotten a chance to ask Bob her question, the stupid meddling blond and his overly bubbly friend came in and distracted him. 

She was starting to worry about John and Jack. There was nothing wrong with Jack. Charlie actually thought he was a funny guy. The problem was John. She could tell he was starting to catch on to her not being all she seemed, and that was the last thing she needed. Worst of all, now he was asking for a job. Thank God Bob turned him down until further notice. Charlie had been really worried that Bob would take up the offer without much a second thought like he'd done when she called in. She'd made sure he was tired when she asked to hopefully get him in a state of mind where he wasn't as on alert so he'd say yes easier, but he was pretty tired now too. One could only imagine Charlie's relief when Bob had said he'd leave it up to her.

If it were up to her, she'd kick John to the curb. If it were up to her, she'd spit on his shoes and turn him away. If it were up to her, she'd lock him in the stock room freezer. If it were up to her-

Then it hit her. Give him the job. Get him to shut up through intimidation. If that didn't work, resort to other methods. She could get rid of the problem with minimal effort, and also get a lesser workload around the grease trap that was Boys & Grills. It was the perfect plan. 

Charlie tore herself from her internal monologue when she saw John slip a twenty into the tip jar and smile at her over her shoulder. She turned to talk to Bob, since he wouldn't be chatting anymore now the duo had left, but he was cooking again. She missed her chance. Groaning to herself, she returned to the customers. 

The next man in line was tall, with reddish brown hair that peeked out from under the brim of his baseball cap and made up a goatee that sat below a squared off pair of glasses. 

"Welcome to Boys & Grills, may I take your order sir?" Sarah greeted, trying to make her voice sound friendly for the customers.

"Hey, could I get a pulled pork melt for here and a grilled cheese to go?" the man asked, checking his phone, "And a large coke."

Sarah nodded jotting that down, "Would you like to add fries for an extra two dollars?"

"Eh, sure why not." he replied, crossing his arms with a cheerful smile.

"And the name for that order?" Sarah questioned.

"Corey," Corey replied, pulling out his wallet, "You know, I don't remember Bob having any coworkers. He still works here right?"

"He still works here. Bob is my manager. He hired me two weeks ago, because the work load was getting hard to handle alone. That'll be $16.73 sir," she informed.

He took out a twenty and told her to keep the change with a smile. After paying, he went to go sit at the counter. Charlie watched as Corey went to tap Bob on the shoulder, and the two immediately greeted each other with excitement. She assumed the two were close friends by the way they acted. It was sweet until Charlie realized Corey had stolen her next chance to speak with Bob. How wonderful.

She waited idly for lunch to arrive. Not many other customers came in to eat between then and when she and Bob would go on break, but telling by the way he and Corey were talking she probably wouldn't get too much time with Bob in the back room when eating. She groaned to herself. Why was it the day she actually decided to make progress that everyone decided they needed to see Bob so badly?

By the time their lunch break rolled around, the two were still talking. Charlie contemplated maybe going to get Bob, but shook her head at the idea. A talking Bob was like an immovable stone. It was infuriating. Begrudgingly, Charlie trudged into the back room to eat after setting up her break sign. 

Halfway through lunch, Bob finally showed up in the stock room. "Hey! I'm sorry Sarah, one of my buddies from high school, Corey. He moved out after graduation. We were just catchin' up on everythin' that's happened since he left. He's got himself a wife and kids, can ya believe that? I've missed that guy, we were inseparable in our day. Anyways, I got a quick question for ya. John was wonderin' if he could get himself a job here. Normally I'd've already said yes, but I wanted to ask ya first. I'm not the only one workin' here anymore after all."

Sarah pretended to think for a moment, though she'd already decided it was a good idea. "I see no problem with another set of hands," she finally replied.

Bob sat with a loud groan, but bore a smile. "I'm glad ya think so. He's a good kid, and between you and me I think he needs the work experience. Can't figure out what he wants to be, God bless him. Anyways, as nice as it has been with just you and me, I still think its smart we got some help. It's been a hundred times easier since you rolled around, but to be honest I think we can agree we've still got a bit too much work cut out for just the two of us, even the way we're splittin' the load. Plus the extra company would be nice." Bob rambled.

Sarah let him go on, hoping he'd eventually run out of things to say so she could talk to him about the truly important stuff. At some point she stopped listening, just waiting for the sound of his voice to stop.

When it finally did and he started eating however, someone peeked into the back room. Hesitant and worried, the man spoke "Uh, Velseb? You got an extinguisher in here?"

Bob looked up concerned and serious. "Yeah, why?"

The man shifted from either foot nervously as he warned, "Well, the bakery next door's got a grease fire going, and their extinguisher isn't pressurized right. It's just in the oven right now, but if you could hurry that would-"

Bob had already leapt up the moment he'd heard fire and rushed to get the extinguisher. He cut off the informant and hurried out the door, red canister in hand.

Once the two had left, Charlie stood angrily and shouted out loud to herself. She'd missed him again! Why was it today that everything had to go wrong? She only needed maybe a minute or two of his time and she couldn't even get that! Charlie took out her frustrations on the rickety and uncomfortable chair, turning it over and kicking it up against the wall. Letting out a deep breath, she righted the seat, sitting back down to finish her dinner. If worse came to worse, she'd just call him. 

Everything was going to be fine, even if Charlie had to force it to be.